The FCC Commissioner says that companies should stop capitulating Trump’s administration threats

By David Sheparson

Washington (Reuters): The lonely Democrat in the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday asked the main companies to face the threats of the Trump administration against the announcers and others.

The president of the FCC, Brendan Carr, Republican, just before he had defended his recent comments pushing Disney and the local speakers to stop issuing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“We need corporations to stop capitulating. They are fraying our first amendment and our democracy every time they capitulate,” said the FCC commissioner Anna Gómez.

“But I understand their businesses,” he added. “They have obligations with their shareholders, so it is also our obligation not to threaten and not have these complaints hanging on the head of people.”

The president of the Senate Committee, Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, had said that Carr’s threats could one day damage the conservative media if they were used by a future democratic administration. “We do not want to see the government weapon by any administration against any perspective, and that is certainly not what we are doing here,” Carr said.

On Friday, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group finished their preferences of the night show in its 70 stations affiliated with ABC that cover almost a quarter of US homes, days after ABC had resumed the transmission of Kimmel’s Show.

Throughout its two terms, Trump has threatened to rescind the licenses of local transmission affiliates of national networks and the beginning of this month suggested that Carr could terminate licenses against broadcasting organisms for the mainly negative news.

“This administration is using the regulatory authority of the FCC over licensees to censor the content,” Gomez said.

Carr defended his comments, saying that the FCC was enforcing the public interest standard. He did not apologize for his comment as “we can do this in the easy or the difficult way” addressed to the speakers for the Kimmel show that was under strong criticism.

He said the comment was misrepresented and praised local emitters for using their authority to avoid programming.

“Maybe now there is a permission structure here where they feel that they or other global groups or stations can go back,” Carr said. “You have to change power.”

(David Shepardonediting report by Bill Berkrot)